Lobbyists donate $181,600 to McCain
WASHINGTON - Registered lobbyists have donated large amounts of money to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, even as he denounces their profession. But Democratic candidates for Congress have also raised prodigious sums from lobbyists, outdoing the Republicans, according to reports filed for the first time under a new ethics law.
Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, says he does not want money from lobbyists, but a few modest contributions have slipped through. Healthcare, education, environmental, and human rights lobbyists have given to Obama.
In total, lobbyists and trade groups have reported giving about $10.4 million to presidential and congressional candidates in the first half of this year.
So far, McCain, presumptive Republican nominee, has received more than $181,600 from lobbyists and trade groups, while Obama has received just more than $6,000.
Senator Hillary Clinton, who ended her bid for the presidency in June, received more than $87,000.
NEW YORK TIMES
"He came out talking about how good of a race Barack Obama was running, and how proud he was of Barack," Ballentine said. "You know he went back home and said, 'I can't believe I spoke in front of all those Negroes today!' "
Rush Limbaugh, meet your black liberal counterprogramming. Ballentine is one of the many African-American radio hosts and commentators who are aggressively advocating for Obama's election on black-oriented radio stations daily.
Since Limbaugh first flexed his tonsils two decades ago, Democrats have publicly worried about their lack of an answer to him and his imitators, who have proved so adept at motivating conservative Republicans to go to the polls, especially for President Bush.
Now it is Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who has a chorus of broadcast supporters addressing a vital part of his coalition, feeding and reflecting the excitement blacks have for his candidacy in general.
NEW YORK TIMES 